FIG. 1 shows front and side views of a “Type G” power plug. The Type G power plug 100 is also known as the British Standards 1363 (BS 1363) plug or as the “13-amp plug.” The BS 1363 is a large plug that has three rectangular prongs forming a triangle. BS 1363 defines the live 110 and neutral 120 as 18 mm long and spaced 22 mm apart, with 9 mm of insulation at the trailing ends of the prongs prevents accidental contact with a bare connector while the plug is partially inserted. The earth pin 130 is approximately 4 by 8 mm and 23 mm long. It should be noted that the housing of the plug 100 is limited in how small of a form factor is possible, since the earth pin 130 is 22 mm in an orthogonal position relative to a line defined by the live 110 and neutral 120 pins.
The Type G design is used not only in the United Kingdom, but also in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Botswana, Ghana, Hong Kong, Macau, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, Mauritius, Iraq, Kuwait, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. BS 1363 is also standard in several of the former British Caribbean colonies such as Belize, Dominica, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. It is also used in Saudi Arabia in 230 V installations although 110 V installations using a NEMA connector are more common.
Although the BS 1363 connector is generally accepted as the safest power connector plug, it is also generally derided as cumbersome and large. Frequently, those in the countries that have adopted BS 1363 notice that in certain applications, the connector is larger than the device that is being plugged in. This is especially true in portable, rechargeable devices. The BS 1363 connector is bulkier than the most popular mobile devices, such as the Apple iPhone, Sony's PSP, and RIM's various Blackberry models. One prior art solution offers a rotatable earth pin that makes only a small contact with an internal earth contactor when the earth pin is rotated into an operational form factor.